The Catacombs
by kcl71
Summary: November, 1986. Duke is hidden in the catacombs, until Bert Ramsey and the Mob can be taken down. This is what should have happened. If you are unfamiliar with the storyline, copy and paste this into your browser and watch a youtube clip before reading. /iXyiplwiiSQ
1. Chapter 1

"Get out!" With all the force of his pent-up pain and rage, Duke Lavery hurled a large rock at a rat that had been creeping toward his meager provisions. The stone met its mark and the rodent scurried away, squeaking madly.

"Ugh," quavered a quiet voice from the mouth of the passageway. "Horrible little creatures. Would you like me to shoot it?"

"Anna…." Duke turned and could scarcely believe his eyes. He thought he must be dreaming. And then he was afraid. "Has something gone wrong with the plan?"

"No. Nothing's wrong. Everything's fine." Anna Devane's voice was desolate with the lie. Everything was wrong. Nothing was fine. The plan had been that she and Duke would get married and live happily ever after, along with Robin. That could never happen now, and her daughter's heart and her own were broken.

"Well, why are you here, then?" Duke was relieved but confused. "I thought Robert forbade you to come back here?"

"And you thought I'm in the habit of obeying Robert?"

"No. Not really. I hoped not."

"I was still worried about you, down here, all alone. I wish I weren't. It would be easier, you know, if I could hate you. I wish I did."

"Please don't say that."

"But it's true. Maybe hating you would hurt less. It certainly couldn't make me feel any worse."

"I never wanted to hurt you. You have to believe me."

"Why? After all the lies you've told me?"

"I'm not lying about this. I love you. That was never a lie. I love you. I wanted to marry you." He took a step toward her, wanting to hold her, to comfort her.

"Stop." She shook her head, tears springing to her eyes, and took a step back.

He followed. "I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you."

"Don't."

"I wanted to be a family with you and Robin."

"Shhh." He had her cornered against the cave wall now. She could've pushed past him, if she'd tried-could've forced her way out and escaped. But she couldn't find the will. His body loomed over hers, heat coming off him in the chill damp of the cave, and the shadows only intensified the anguish on his beautiful, angular face. He was saying all the things she wanted to hear-all the things she wanted to have. She laid her forearm against his chest and pushed half-heartedly. His heart beat hard and fast beneath her hand.

Duke wrapped his fingers around her narrow wrist. She did not pull away. "Maybe have other children, of our own, Anna."

"Shut up," she hissed desperately, and she tilted her face up to his and kissed him to make him stop. She couldn't bear to hear any more; neither did she think she could bear to go on without him and that life they both wanted.

Anna hurt so badly, and losing herself in Duke's kiss made the pain stop. He felt so good. He was all she wanted.

Her kiss took Duke by surprise. He knew that because he loved her, he should pull away-he should let her go and not allow himself to do anything else Anna might come to regret. But he could not do it. He wanted her as much as he loved her. Against his better judgment, knowing she might tear herself away as she had before-taking with her what little was left of his bruised and battered heart-he reached out and grabbed her. He curled his fists around her upper arms, pulled her to him and wrapped his arms around her, folding her into a close embrace. He sank one hand up into her lovely soft hair and cradled her head, holding her to him, his other arm winched tightly across her back.

 _I should leave,_ Anna told herself, even as she melted against Duke and wrapped her arms 'round his neck. She knew she should, but she didn't want to. She wanted to be with him just one more time. The last time they'd made love, she hadn't known it was to be the final time. She should have realized; his ardent desperation should've been all the clue she'd needed. She remembered how he'd kissed her mid-sentence, passionately, as she'd just done to silence him. He'd pressed her down into the pillows and been inside her before she'd even had time to formulate a thought. And then she hadn't been able to think; she'd only been able to feel-to feel all the wonderful, overpowering emotions and sensations that Duke Lavery aroused in her.

While she'd known only that something was wrong, Duke had known-had planned and expected-that night to be their last together, Anna realized now in the catacombs, in his arms. That knowledge finally convinced her that he was telling the truth: He'd planned to confess; he'd wanted to do the right thing. He'd meant to end things with her….

It wasn't fair. He'd gotten a last time with the understanding that that's what it was. She wanted one, too.

Anna unclasped her arms from around Duke's neck.

He broke his mouth from hers, panicked, thinking she was pulling away from him to leave him once more-once and for all. He clutched her tighter. "No! Don't. Please."

"Shhh." She hushed him again, sliding her hands down his chest. "You asked for a goodbye kiss, before. I want a proper goodbye."


	2. Chapter 2

"Shhh." Anna hushed Duke again, sliding her hands down his chest. "You asked for a goodbye kiss, before. I want a proper goodbye." She reached for his trousers and unzipped his fly. She felt him go hard within his pants.

"Oh god, Anna." Duke buried his face in the dark fall of her hair and kissed her neck. This was more than he'd dared hope for. He knew he didn't deserve it. Once again, he told himself that he should leave her be and send her away. He told himself this while his hands stroked her tight, lithe little body. Giving in to their impulse to come together would only cause them both more, fresh pain when they separated again-forever this time. But he was weak. The smell of her, the taste of her as he kissed her, the feel of her as he caressed the soft roundness of her breasts and the firmness of her nipples, the sound of her hot, high moan against his ear-she drove him mad. He could not deny his desire any better than he had before, when he'd failed to end their relationship and spare her pain.

Anna ached for him. Being apart from him was not just emotional torment but a physical pain, in her heart and the rest of her body. She wanted him to fill the emptiness she felt without him. She slipped her hand into his open fly and wrapped her fingers around him.

Duke growled against her neck. He slid his hand down her back and over her arse, and he gripped the fabric of her pencil skirt beneath the curve of her bottom. He pulled it up as far as he was able, until the tight hem wouldn't rise any farther up her thighs. He caressed her bottom, her hip, her belly, the front of her thigh. He ran his hand up her inner thigh until his fingers brushed against her knickers. Her crotch was warm and damp, and Anna tried to slide one high-heeled foot to one side to widen her stance, her skirt restricting her. Her hand stroked him.

Duke moved aside the fabric of her panties to touch her. She'd acted so cold and hard toward him since his arrest, but underneath she was hot and soft-slick with want of him. She whimpered and pressed herself against his fingers. He petted her, gently, and she moved with his hand, so responsive.

Why did it always have to be so good between them? Anna wondered. Anger flashed through her along with pleasure-anger that, because of the things he'd done and the mistakes he'd made, they were losing this. It wasn't fair. She felt as if Duke had been made for her, and she knew she would never feel quite this way again, with any other man.

Duke was grateful for this moment-this one last chance. He couldn't fix what he'd done, but at least he could give her this momentary joy. He could show her that he truly did care. He got down on one knee, ducked his head up beneath her skirt, and covered her with his mouth.

Anna made a hysterical sound-half choked laugh, half sob. Pleasing her seemed to come so very easy to Duke, and so she came easily for him. This time, as always. She leaned into him, her thighs trembling, her hand on his skirt-covered head, her knees nearly buckling.

He felt her go, and he caught her, with one hand on her bottom and the longest fingers of the other pressing inside her, holding her upright in the crook of his fingers and thumb.

Anna's head slumped, and she whispered his name.


	3. Chapter 3

He emerged from her skirt, stood, and backed her toward the catacombs wall, his hands still in the same intimate places. "Anna?" he asked. This was not the way he'd have chosen to say goodbye to her-he'd meant to say it that night in the comfort and safety of his bed-and he still could not quite believe she wanted this, here and now.

She nodded several times, silently, and pushed his trousers and boxers down off his hips.

He moved his hands and wrenched the bottom of her skirt upward, hearing it tear at the slit in the back. He slid a hand along the underside of her thigh and lifted it up toward his hip. She stood tip-toe on her other foot, and he bent his knees and thrust up into her, entering her.

Anna wrapped her legs tightly around Duke; she crossed her arms behind his neck, clutching him. He wedged one hand between her tailbone and the stone wall, his other arm cushioning the length of her spine, his hand cradling the back of her head.

"Anna…," he whispered while he moved inside her. "I love you…. I do…. I always will…. I'm sorry…."

"Shhh…," Anna hushed again, and they both lost themselves in the base physicality of their lovemaking.

Gravity increased the friction between them, their bodies and souls rubbed raw by their desperate circumstances. Duke panted and grunted as his thrusts pinned his arms between Anna's body and the jagged rock. He deserved that discomfort, he thought, and it was small price to pay for the pleasure of holding her and being inside her. She felt so good that he had no idea how he would ever manage to leave her and let her go.

Held off the ground, Anna could not move except to wrap all of herself more tightly around Duke and hold on while he fucked her hard against the cold, damp cave wall. She abandoned herself to his rough thrusts, short but deep, her clit riding hard against the very root of his cock. Time seemed to slow down to the seeping geologic drip-drop of the stalactites above them. Maybe, Anna thought, she and Duke could just go on and on like this, buried alone underground together forever, and they need never be separated….

Her soft gasps joined his huffs of exertion, quickening until finally she could not keep quiet as she came again. Her cry echoed through the caverns of the catacombs just as the ecstasy reverberated through her body and soul. Her tremors of pleasure multiplied and amplified, her last moments of union with Duke becoming the most intense he'd ever given her.

Duke joined her, growling ferally with release and clenching his teeth around a mouthful of her hair that flowed down past her neck, like an animal biting the scruff of his mate. In the moment, he thought that all the pain he and Anna had suffered was worth it-this shared rapture outweighed all of it. Surely she must feel and believe that, too. Their delight in each other could overcome any sorrow….


End file.
